church in Pirna, East Germany, a notice board
with the title: "Protecting the Creation." On it
were photographs of rubbish dumps, factory
chimneys, and other unnatural and ugly
things. The message was that humans are part
of God's creation and therefore responsible for
it. The Protestant Church was, in its own quiet
way, acting as a channel for protest against the
regime in East Germany, where the ever pres
ent secret police made any open opposition
extremely difficult. Concern for the environ
ment was a perfect way of registering protest
without alarm bells ringing in police head
quarters. After all, what could be wrong with
people wanting pure water, clean air, and
a rubbish-free environment for their children?
As the communist regimes with all their
characteristic secrecy and paranoia fell apart,
the people who were politically active, mainly
intellectuals, did their best to tell the outside
world about the poor state of the environment.
Air and water pollution and declining life
expectancy in Eastern Europe were pointed
out as evidence of the unsatisfactory perfor
mance of the communist system. In place of
the old message "Look how good our statistics
are; everything in our communist paradise is
wonderful" was the new message: "Look how
bad everything is; communist rule is a disaster,
please help us."
National Geographic,June 1991
c